BBC: US soldiers' bodies found in Iraq ~ Bodies Booby Trapped,...Zarqawi successor killed....

BBC ^ | Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 19:13 GMT 20:13 UK | BBC Staff

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

US soldiers' bodies found in Iraq

Kristian Menchaca and flags raised at Thomas Tucker's Oregon home

Two US soldiers missing in Iraq since Friday have been found dead south of Baghdad, the US military has said.

The bodies were found in the Yusifiya area on Monday. An Iraqi defence ministry spokesman said the bodies had shown signs of torture.

An insurgent group linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq, which claimed it abducted the men, has now said that it killed them.

The missing men have been named as Kristian Menchaca and Thomas Tucker, both from the 101st Airborne Division.

Another US soldier, David Babineau, was killed in the attack on the checkpoint.

Relatives' anger

US military spokesman in Iraq, Maj Gen William Caldwell, said the bodies were found late on Monday by US troops.

"We have recovered what we believe are the remains of our two missing soldiers. They will be taken back to the United States for positive verification."

He said the cause of death was "undeterminable at this point".

But Iraqi defence ministry spokesman Gen Abdul Aziz Mohammed said: "We found they had been tortured in a barbaric fashion."

A US statement said that the bodies had been booby-trapped.

It said 8,000 coalition and Iraqi forces had been carrying out a massive search for the missing men, and that one US soldier died and another 12 were injured in clashes during the search.

At least three people were killed in one bomb blast in Baghdad

Relatives of the men have already reacted with grief and anger.

Ken MacKenzie, uncle of Kristian Menchaca, said on US television: "Because the US government did not have a plan in place, my nephew has paid for it with his life."

An internet statement posted by the Mujahideen Shura Council - a grouping of insurgents that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq - said it had abducted the men and slit their throats.

The posting, which cannot be independently confirmed, said the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq - Abu Hamza al-Muhajir - had been "favoured by God" in being allowed to carry out a Sharia law tribunal death sentence.

The former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a US air strike near Baquba on 7 June.

Market bombs

Gen Caldwell said on Tuesday US forces had killed Zarqawi's "right-hand man" in a raid in Yusifiya on Friday, near where the US troops were abducted.

The general said Iraqi Mansur Suleiman al-Mashhadani was "a key leader in al-Qaeda" and could have succeeded Zarqawi.

The US also said it had killed 15 "terrorists" in an "extremely long firefight" in Bushahin, north of Baquba.

The US military said its forces came under attack from gunmen on a roof and around nearby buildings. After the firefight, it said, various weapons and explosives were found.

However, angry local people said the dead were all innocent poultry workers.

Meanwhile, violence continued around Iraq despite Zarqawi's death and a new security clampdown involving tens of thousands of Iraqi and US troops in Baghdad:

• At least three people are killed in a car bomb in a market in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad

• Two more people are killed and 28 hurt in an explosion at a clothes market in central Baghdad

• Elsewhere, at least one elderly woman was killed along with a suicide bomber who blew himself up inside a home for the elderly in the southern city of Basra.

[Wuli]

I did not hear that much detail of his comments. The very tone of the one comment from him that I did see, suggested to me that he either did not have a rational view of the situation or that he was denying many facts and lacked intelligence in his assessment of the situation.

But we have, since the days of 9/11 and the Jersey girls, replaced peoples' emotions with everything else as far as granting them moral justification for their views. If they have any degree of being some sort of "aggrieved" party, then by God their view on any related matter must be morally superior to anyone else. Or so our current public opinion seems to say.

Actually, I saw this beginning before 9/11, when judges started accepting end-of-trial statements from family members of victims as non-evidentiary "testimony" before the guilty person was sentenced. From my reading, the idea that the emotions of the family members of the victims is relevant to the sentence is totally foreign to the hisotry of our nations' legal-philosophy. Guilt is guilt, and the sentencing of the guilty is supposed to deal with the severity of the crime and not the severity of the emotions of those afffected by the crime. The idea that justice is blind is supposed to work both ways - justice is supposed to be dispassionate, by design.

Well, from the dictates of the "results" oriented approach of our courts, to the loudest and most vocal family members of 9/11 victims , to the leftist family members of a few of our brave soldiers, being related to a victim makes anyone, morally, a saint and beyond public criticism.

[Dutchgirl]

Thanks for all of your efforts in researching/updating/posting. Last night, I attended a nationwide wake of sorts, where folks called into Larry Elder' show to offer their condolences on the passing of his mother. Because there are such things as call screeners, only the most appropriate and heart felt messages were allowed to get through.

Having experienced a recent loss, I know that people deal with the death of loved one's differently. Too bad the family of this fine young man couldn't get someone to screen out the relatives who spit on the legacy of a volunteer soldier who died in the service of the country he loved and a cause he believed in. May God provide consolation to the family that raised such a fine son, through the actions and words of Christ's hands on Earth. We all feel their loss.

[Fred]

Take it easy. Give the guy a break. I cannot begin to imagine the grief that they are experiencing.. Bush would understand.

[Marine_Uncle]

"fyi"
Thanks for the ping.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Having experienced a recent loss, I know that people deal with the death of loved one's differently.

So very true....losing of close a family member for whatever reason is always very difficult....

[r9etb]

PLEASE dont post anything by the bbc here. The story is rife with leftist blather. Makes me sick to my stomach anytime I read something from them or the nyslimes!

Aw, c'mon -- "innocent poultry workers" is as good as anything that Monty Python ever came up with.

[PzLdr]

Judges are required to hear Victim impact statements [at least in New York] by statute. The law was passed , after lobbying by victims' advocates, by the Legislature. Victims are not required to make a statement or, in the alternative, submit a written statement, but they cannot be denied the opportunity to do so. My office had victims' advocates assigned to the staff to assist victims and , in the case of murder cases, survivors, with that and other issues, e.g The Victims' Compensation Board. [I was an Asst. Dist. Atty for 26 years].

Although I wasn't overly fond of it [I represented the State, not the victim], it has its benefits. Defendants are always sending the Judge "Attaboy" letters from any number of people. A victim impact statement balances that out.

[boxerblues]

I am wondering if this uncle is even a blood relative or just related by marriage and already had a anti-war mentality.
Good question

Repost of family interview

[OriginalIntent]

Elsewhere, at least one elderly woman was killed along with a suicide bomber who blew himself up inside a home for the elderly in the southern city of Basra.

I suppose the homicide bomber still gets the virgins for this brave act in the holy jihad. Some people still cannot get it through their heads that bringing this false religion into the U.S. is setting the table for great misery in the future.

[JoeGar]

angry local people said the dead were all innocent poultry workers

That's because we pay the families of terrorists nothing, but we pay the families of "innocent poultry workers" thousands.

[Wuli]

Sorry, it should have NOTHING to do with the identification of guilt, the extent or severity of guilt or the final adjudication of justice towards the gulity. Guilt or innocence and the severity of that guilt, in law, should be related 100% to the crime, period. The feelings of the family members of the victim are irrelevant TO LAW AND LEGAL JUSTICE.

I am not denying their just feelings. They are true and they represent something that results in them from the crime. That's the whole point, its IN THEM and it's THEIR FEELINGS. The law was not intended to resolve those feelings.

From a legal standpoint, in my view, relatives of "victims" are not "the victim", in any legal sense, and inspite of the impact on their lives, our historical legal philosophy was designed to bring justice for what happened to THE ACTUAL VICTIM and not for those who a grieving over that victim.

It is a legal path that we are already feeling the adverse impact of throughout our public discourse.

[PzLdr]

When the actual victim is dead, it's going to be tough getting a statement out of him without John Edwards. And, not surprisingly, a crime can impact those around the actual victim, like the children, spouse, etc. And as long as defendants can submit the amount of specious crap they do to mitigate the sentence, I can live with victim impact statements.

[American Quilter]

Take it easy. Give the guy a break. I cannot begin to imagine the grief that they are experiencing.. Bush would understand.

Hi Fred. I wondered if someone would say this to me. Look at the man's statement--it's straight out of the DNC playbook. Does he scream out against the terrorists who slaughtered his nephew? Does he condemn the liberals who, by providing encouragement to our enemies, are extending this war and increasing the number of American soldiers killed? No, he accuses the U.S. government of not having a plan, a stupid accusation that has been repeatedly debunked over the last year.

I don't question the man's grief, just his judgment.

[TexKat]

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

UGLY!!!